McDonald’s restaurants are facing a class-action lawsuit for sexual harassment of female employees.

Plaintiffs Jamelia Fairley and Ashely Reddick filed a lawsuit on April 10th in a Chicago federal court seeking over $500 million in compensatory damages on behalf of themselves and thousands of female workers at over 100 McDonalds restaurants in Florida. 

The women claimed the “severe and pervasive sexual harassment”  violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 in addition to the Florida Civil Rights Act.  Williams Sr.  worked for Waste Management, Inc and during discussions regarding scheduling accommodation, his supervisor allegedly asked if Williams was too old to do his job. 

The Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits any type of discrimination, including sexual harassment.

Sexual Harassment can include unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal or physical harassment of a sexual nature.

Both the victim and the harasser can be either a woman or a man, and the victim and harasser can be the same sex.

The law forbids discrimination when it comes to any aspect of employment, including hiring, firing, pay, job assignments, promotions, layoff, training, benefits, and any other term or condition of employment.

Although the law doesn’t prohibit simple teasing, offhand comments, or isolated incidents that are not very serious, harassment is illegal when it is so frequent or severe that it creates a hostile or offensive work environment or when it results in an adverse employment decision (such as the victim being fired or demoted).

The law also prohibits retaliation for employees who report harassment or make a good faith claim of harassment

Fairly, who is a current employee at McDonald’s in Sanford Florida says that she was sexually harassed by a male coworker beginning in 2018.

She alleges that he grabbed her by the waist and “pulled her back into his groin area”.

Then when she reported the incident to management her hours were reduced drastically (big red flag!).

Reddick says that she was physically assaulted by a male coworker and then terminated in 2018 in retaliation for reporting the sexual harassment.

According to the lawsuit “despite having knowledge of the sexual harassment and hostile work environment to which class members have been subjected, McDonald’s failed to take immediate corrective action to stop it.”

This is a huge mistake in handling sexual harassment claims at your organizations.

McDonald’s responded that they have recently taken several steps to reaffirm their commitment to a sexual harassment-free work environment.

These steps include an enhanced policy on discrimination, harassment and retaliation prevention, and creating an HR hotline that employees may call with any employment concerns.

Wait, a hotline – that sounds familiar! :)

CYBHR’s HR hotline is one of our favorite tools to combat sexual harassment and other workplace issues.  You can sign your company up for this feature by CLICKING HERE!

Call us to get this set up for your employees today or sign up for our free library of forms at www.cybhumanresources.com.

Also, you can take our free HR self-assessment to see if you are covered by clicking HERE!